A manifesto for creativity: what nobody tells the client

Nobody tells charity clients how to unleash the power of creativity with their creative agency. Which is silly really, when creativity produces 12 times more effective results*. I wish someone had told me when I was a client.

Creativity needs an interesting brief.

She won’t be bored into submission. She needs your brief to be the story you tell your mates down the pub, not the functional case for support you tell the Trustees.

Creativity needs to get out and about.

Invite her to your offices, or better, to see the frontline impact of supporters' gifts.

Creativity needs big, simple ideas to bounce off.

Resist adding that extra word or two into the proposition and see what happens.

Creativity needs time.

So why not surprise her and give her an extra day? Go on, just a day.

Creativity needs delicate handling.

She’s more fragile than she’d care to admit. Tell her about the good things you see, not just the things that need to change.

Creativity needs permission to be emotional.

She gets fired up on emotion, we all do. Remind your stakeholders about the advertising they loved from their childhoods, and then remind them that us grown-ups feel too.

Creativity needs risktakers, rulebreakers and mavericks.

Creativity hates certainty and safety. Choose the idea that scares you.

But above all, Creativity needs YOU.

Creativity doesn’t belong to the art director, the copywriter, the Planner or even the Creative Director. Creativity belongs to all of us. As humans, we are all innately creative, but many of us forget how to create the conditions for Creativity to thrive. If you’re one of them, please remember to give Creativity a fighting chance. Creativity can only survive when we all take care of her.

*https://www.thinkbox.tv/Research/Thinkbox-research/The-link-between-creativity-and-effectiveness